im also open to any suggestions of other "war metal" bands. i am finding this particular subdivision of black metal to be a highly rewarding listen, both for its primal sound/nature, and the way it embodies the spirit of extreme metal. dont be put off by the usually terrible production, this stuff puts the LLN to shame.

I would like to encourage people to post thoughtful, constructive, non-emotional pieces of text, before this thread degenerates further.

Regardless of the correctness of the term 'warmetal', the mentioned bands may warrant some attention.

Especially "Beherit - Drawing Down the Moon". Black metal simplified into it's essential components. The whole album sounds thick and languid. Not exactly evocative of images of war, in my opinion. It's actually quite sedate and relaxed in its violence, which is part of what makes it excellent.

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Divus_de_Mortuus

War metal has been used to refer to the old Aussie bm sound and its spin offs, Blasphemy/Sarcofago/Holocausto/Beherit style black metal, and death black hybrids from the late 90s like Angelcorpse and In Aeternum. It doesn't mean anything really.

Bolt Thrower: Realm of Chaos, WarmasterImmortal: Pure Holocaust, Battles in the North

Thematically, musically, these four albums are all one needs to construct a complete image of war. Metal can be used to paint a surrealist mental landscape, its regions delineated by potent contributions of outstanding bands alone. Once this is accomplished, we realize that 99% of what is out there is superfluous. Self-professed "war metal" acts are footnotes to the development of metal throughout the 90s.

P.S. As per GreatBlackJoy's comment, Beherit's "Drawing Down the Moon" is about as far from "war metal" as Burzum's "Hvis Lyset Tar Oss", and should be considered more or less analogous to "Electric Doom Synthesis". You would've been closer with another Finnish band, Impaled Nazarene, although even they drew inspiration from esoteric themes up until "Ugra Karma".

but still if I had to use this term I'd pick Pure Holocaust - Immortal there isn't a more intense whirlwind of furious, fast music. Lyrical content is to be noted here. I get images of hordes of black riders moving through frosty lands accompanied by the mighty blizzards ready to fuck everyone.

Seeing the replies, I believe a definiton (or at the very least, description of sorts) would be apt if this thread is to go anywhere. Personally I was always under the impression it referred to Blasphemy and similar like Conqueror or Black Witchery, I've never seen Bolt Thrower or Immortal called War metal.

Personally I was always under the impression it referred to Blasphemy and similar like Conqueror or Black Witchery, I've never seen Bolt Thrower or Immortal called War metal.

Yeah, me too. I thought it meant really simple stuff with lots of battering percussion so that it sounded like a war and you didn't notice you were bored. Revenge, Angelcorpse and Impaled Nazarene should probably make the list.

Immortal referred to their music not as black metal but as holocaust metal. And they dubbed their corpsepaint "warpaint" but that's about the only connection Immortal has with war metal.

Bolt Thrower is sometimes called war metal since most of their topics and album titles seem to revolve around the subject. Despite some musical similarities between the early Bolt Thrower stuff and bands like Blasphemy or Order From Chaos I think it's safe to say that Bolt Thrower doesn't really belong in the list of war metal bands because Bolt Thrower simply weren't into satanism like all the other bands were. Ideologically they were different.

I personally liked Conqueror before they fell into repetition with Revenge. Ever since then "war metal" has meant little to me other than just another scene filled with morons. It had it's highlights though, but its greatness doesn't constitute for more than a list of albums about as long as the one deadite already posted.

Oh, and I'm a little upset by your choice of words when you say "this is a list for newcomers" An introduction like that is often followed by: "and now you can move on to listening to mp3s of this obscure shit band from Nepal, welcome to the scene buddy!"